Noun

(en-noun)

A whirlwind, whirlpool, or similarly moving matter in the form of a spiral or column.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-03

, author=Frank Fish, George Lauder , title=Not Just Going with the Flow , volume=101, issue=2, page=114 , magazine= citation , passage=An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex'''''. The ' vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.}}

(figuratively) Anything that involves constant violent or chaotic activity around some centre.

(figuratively) Anything that inevitably draws surrounding things into its current.

(historical) A supposed collection of particles of very subtle matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or planet; part of a Cartesian theory accounting for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it.

(zoology) Any of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera.

Noun

(en-noun)

The highest point of something.

(anatomy) The highest surface on the skull.

(geometry) The common point of the two rays of the angle, or its equivalent structure in polyhedra (meeting of edges) and higher order polytopes.

(mathematics) A point on the curve with a local minimum or maximum of curvature.

(graph theory) One of the elements of a graph joined or not by edges to other vertices.

(computer graphics) A point in space, usually given in terms of its Cartesian coordinates.

(optics) The point where the surface of a lens crosses the optical axis.

(nuclear, or, particle physics) An interaction point.

(astrology) The point where the prime vertical meets the ecliptic in the western hemisphere of a natal chart.